Le Petit Ciel
by InfectedLife
Summary: Naruto is the new owner of a small french restaurant and candy shop in a poor neighborhood. Sasuke is a rich kid who finds life dull, or would if Kakashi'd let him. What happens when they meet? And what the hell is a magic crab? SasuNaru. Based on a movie
1. Rencontre

Le Petit Ciel

Chapter one: Rencontre

Uzumaki Naruto was having an incredibly bad day. Most of his days didn't really go the way he wanted them to, but this day just seemed to be purposefully trying to piss him off. It must have been a Tuesday, just like a character in a story he once read he too had never been able to get the hang of Tuesdays. It had all started on his daily trip to the bazaar. The Downtown Marketplace was the lifeblood for the west side of Angleton. Being the poorer district of the city everyone living there was just trying to survive, therefore you were able find anything you could imagine at the bazaar and for very reasonable prices. So every morning Naruto woke up, threw on some sweats and a jacket and wandered out into the city in search for cheap supplies for his restaurant.

Naruto just so happened to be the sole owner and head chef of a cozy little French restaurant and candy shop. He had inherited it on the day of his birth when his mother had died giving birth to him and his father, stricken with grief, had died in a wreck trying to get to the hospital where his wife was slowly dying. The doctor who had delivered him had been a very kind old man and had given Naruto to one of his ex-medical interns turned nursery school teacher. They had lived together in a mediocre apartment not too far from the restaurant and his caregiver, Umino Iruka, Gave up his teaching career to run the little French shop until Naruto was able to. As soon as Naruto turned 18 he rightfully inherited the entire building including the small apartment on the second story. That was where he now lived, after an emotional move out of Iruka's apartment. He also finally got to take over his father's old restaurant. His biological father had been a master chef and the restaurant had been incredibly successful, even boasting some famous cliental. Naruto loved the restaurant and wanted to see it back to its original splendor and he also had this unexplainable bond with his deceased father that would not let him give up on the place. Unfortunately, Naruto was not the master chef his father had been and in the long absence of ownership patronage had dropped to just a few regulars who came merely because they had known his father and they wanted to help his poor struggling son. Hell, most of them brought their own meals. The only thing he was halfway decent at was chocolate and even that was a fifty/fifty shot in the dark.

But today was Tuesday and it had started off horribly when his alarm clock decided to malfunction and went blaring off at three bloody o'clock in the morning. And it wouldn't stop unless he hit the snooze button, which meant that every ten minutes for an hour the blasted thing would go off with zeal and rock Naruto's core until he finally threw it against his closet door smashing it to bits. Of course there was no way in hell he was going to be able to get back to sleep so he made coffee and watched infomercials until the morning cartoons came on at six then finally at seven in the morning he yanked on a pair of sweats caked in flour and the only jacket he owned which was an obnoxious orange thing that he hated but had never found anything more comfortable, then he was on his way to the bazaar.

It was at the marketplace when things started to go really bad even for a Tuesday, he found all his ingredients just fine except he wanted to try a new seafood menu and he couldn't find the guy that normally sold the fresh crab. When he did find a crab vendor it was a creepy old man with red markings on his face and a rather unnerving grin. He also sold pornographic novels, which he apparently wrote. That wasn't really that odd, well it was but a lot of vendors sold totally unrelated things. The place was more like a flea market/garage sale thingy, though porn wasn't a regular on the menu. No, the strangest part was when the man had told him that he had the perfect face to be one of the young 'boy toys' in his next novel. Not really knowing how to respond to that he had merely bought a dozen King Crabs from the man and paid quickly. Before he could get out of there though the weird old man had whispered in his ear.

"Some gifts are inherited and others just need a little extra help to make them shine. After all, what's a small miracle between old friends?" Naruto had stared at him incredulously, then tried to decipher if this was some way to get him to buy the old man's porn, he decided that wasn't likely and that the dude was merely insane. So, nodding and smiling like anyone would to someone they thought had gone completely bonkers, the blonde boy gathered his things and began to slink away from the demented merchant.

"Ah don't forget this one." The old man cooed as he picked up a large crab that had been scuttling over the side of the rusted bucket Naruto was using to carry them in.

"Wiley one, I suppose you and he were meant for each other. Keep an eye out, there might be other things besides crabs you were meant to be with." The geezer said cryptically before laughing and crinkling the red marks on his face. Naruto barely managed a sort of gargling noise before doing the nodding and smiling too widely thing again, but this time he actually turned around and ran for his life. But he forgot that this was Tuesday and Murphy's Law was especially fond of Tuesdays, so he hadn't managed to get twenty feet before smacking head first into something solid. His groceries spilled everywhere and the solid thing made an agitated 'oomph' sound indicating, much to Naruto's chagrin, that it was a living solid thing. Probably human and probably very angry. Though he wasn't guaranteeing human, no way, not with the way this day had gone and not with the alien being he had just bought his crabs from. The same crabs which were currently scuttling off across the bazaar grounds.

"Watch where you're walking." A cross but very smooth voice came from somewhere above the befuddled blonde's head. He chanced a glance upwards and was taken aback by the incredibly dark and handsome young man who stood before him. He was well dressed for a man in the bazaar. He looked more like someone from the east side of town and stood out in the shabby surroundings like a clown in a convent. Soft black hair blazed from the top of his head and even blacker eyes peered uncaringly down at the boy grabbing for lost crabs at his feet. Bouncy blonde hair and eyes a shade of blue too dark to real but undoubtedly was. The young man was striking at first glance and the dark haired boy couldn't hide his surprise when the blonde's beauty did not fade as he continued to look at him.

This man's name was Uchiha Sasuke and he was far too rich to be in a place like this but he had a rather unruly driver that had been with him all his life and he liked to drag Sasuke off to places like this. Supposedly to broaden his horizons. He had never found anything of interest in all those trips until now. In fact nothing he had ever known in life had truly held his interest for very long. He found with time the most beautiful things became dull. But this boy, he was still just as beautiful no matter how long Sasuke stared at him and that was very interesting.

"Sorry about that, I hope I didn't get anything on you. Jeeze this is just not my day." Naruto smiled apologetically and noticed a glint of something in those dark eyes that hadn't been there before.

"It's fine." And with no other words the dark youth began gathering Naruto's things for him. The blonde was pleasantly surprised and bent down to help the handsome stranger. Just a few feet away the unruly driver, by name of Kakashi, paused and stared at the oddest thing he had ever laid eyes on. Uchiha Sasuke was helping someone that he didn't even know. It was enough to even distract him from his new novel he just bought off of old Jaraiya. He had heard the crazy old coot had finally finished the next installment of his favorite Icha Icha series, and so he had dragged his young charge to the bazaar where once in a great while the old man would appear with the newest and some other item for sale to draw people in. Kakashi was the old man's most loyal customer, but this new development in Sasuke was better than anything the geezer could have written.

"My name's Uzumaki Naruto. Thanks for the help and I'm really sorry about bumping into you like that." The blonde paused waiting for the boy's response. He really did enjoy the sound of the young man's voice.

"You ran into me at full speed." It was smooth and deep and extremely rude. That really wasn't the answer Naruto had thought he would get but smile on anyway.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Look I own a restaurant in town, why don't you stop by later on this afternoon and I'll give you a complimentary meal." That wasn't a bad idea, Naruto was proud of himself. He'd get to see the handsome man again and maybe the guy would be in a good mood. He probably just wasn't much of a morning person.

"If you're this clumsy on your own two feet I can't imagine what your cooking would be like. I'll have to pa…"

"He'd love to." Was the surprisingly jolly shout from somewhere behind the attractive young man with no manners. Naruto jumped and nearly dropped his groceries again, he couldn't help but get the eerie feeling that the silver haired man had just managed to appear out of thin air. In fact, the driver had sensed Sasuke was doing his usual act and that things would soon turn sour so he had quickly snuck his way over before the young man realized he was there so he could interrupt properly.

"Hi there, I'm Kakashi and I drive this little guy around." He said ruffling the young man's hair much to the boy's displeasure.

"And in case he didn't introduce himself, which is highly likely, the little tyke's name is Uchiha Sasuke. And he would be delighted to and honored to receive a gourmet meal from you." Kakashi smiled though it was hard to tell, he wore an eye-patch and had pulled his turtleneck up over the bottom half of his face.

"I'm pretty sure your charge was just about to refuse." Naruto ground out after recovering from the initial shock of this man's sudden appearance and seething over the insult that Sasuke had just shot at him. The guy didn't even know him for Hell's sake, and he was throwing jabs at him like it didn't matter.

"I really don't want…"

"He's just cranky in the mornings, we'll be there. You just go ahead and right down the address and we'll be there around one. Okay?" Naruto wasn't sure about this but he nodded and gave the odd man the restaurant's business card. And in turn the guy shooed away his young charge, thanked Naruto and left. It was the oddest thing Naruto had ever seen. God he hated Tuesdays, now he had until one o'clock to become a master chef and prove that dark haired jerk wrong. He didn't care how handsome the guy was, he was an ass and Naruto make him eat his words. The blonde spent his whole walk home plotting his revenge. Sasuke, on the other hand, spent the whole car ride home debating if this was a bad idea. He wondered if Naruto would lose his beauty if he saw him again like everything else in Sasuke's life. Beauty was just superficial and people usually turned out quite ugly once you got to know them so Sasuke preferred to keep all his relationships as superficial as possible. But even that didn't stop the beauty from fading. He had hoped that he could stay away from Naruto and keep his beautiful memory with nothing to mar it. He dreaded his lunch more then anything he had been forced to do in his life. Including that one time Kakashi made him go to that party for people who all liked this weird series of novels. He shuttered, no that one still won.

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Just a short little beginning. It's my first delve into the world of Naruto. I'm horrible when it comes to updating but I hope that by tomorrow I've posted the next chapter to at least on of my ongoing stories. Oh well. I'm not familiar with writing these characters and it doesn't feel as natural as writing for the gundam universe so please feel free to tell me what I need to change. I know I haven't really gotten into personalities in this little beggining but I still wouldn't mind early pointers so when I hone in their personalities later on I'm not too far off. Thank you for reading, see you next chapter hopefully. Tootles. 


	2. Magique

Hello. I got bored and felt like writing a little more Naruto fanfiction. I don't think too many are interested in this one but it's still fun to write so we'll see. Here's the next capter!

Summary so far: Naruto, a master chef who can't even boil water, has just literally run into Sasuke, a handsome and rich young business man with a really sour attitude. Through the innovation, and perversion, of Kakashi the driver the two now have a lunch date at Naruto's restuarant. But what other tricks does Kakashi have up his sleeve? And why is a crab still the most important character? read on and find out...

* * *

Le Petit Ciel

Chapter 2: Magique

"Hello everyone." Naruto greeted his loyal afternoon customers with a smile and a wave. He deposited his recently bought groceries on the counter top, except for the bucket of crabs because that was just gross, those he took into the back kitchen. On his way he paused to look at himself in the mirror Iruka had hung on the far wall for 'atmosphere'. Gaah! He looked like crap, his hair was a matted mess, his bright orange jacket was covered in flour and his gray tattered sweats had coffee stains all over them. He was a train wreck and that guy, Sasuke, had seen him like this. No wonder he thought he was a terrible cook, it looked like most of his ingredients ended up on himself instead of in his dish.

When he walked back out of the kitchen his face was a perfect picture of worry and despair. The afternoon patrons could all see the boy's desperation but none knew how to help him. The boy wanted so badly to keep his father's restaurant but every day it sank more and more into debt. They wished they could do something for the boy.

"Naruto, what's eatin' you?" Asked the friendly yet often distracted Chouji as he removed his homemade lunch from a large brown bag. After he pulled out the third sandwich Naruto just sighed.

"Will you just spit it out or do you always have to be this dramatic? So annoying." Shikamaru lifted his head from the countertop to comment, then propped it up on an elbow to at least make it look like he was listening.

"Yeah dumb ass, we can't help if you don't tell us what's crawled up your butt." Kiba laughed at his own joke while he pulled his dog into his lap. Naruto just frowned. A dog inside a restaurant…he was boned. There was no way he could turn this into a great four-star restaurant in one afternoon. Hell he only had, what, three hours? Yeah, his life was over.

"W..we want to help. Naruto-kun." Sweet little Hinata, the only nice one in his oddball group of friends. Sadly they couldn't help him this time.

"Guys, there's nothing you can do. I have three hours to become a master chef and prove some jackass wrong or I'll never be able to look at myself again." They all stared at him for a minute then Kiba broke out laughing and they all followed, except Hinata but she did look extremely concerned for him.

"Thanks for the confidence boost." Naruto frowned, a few golden locks falling loosely into stormy blue eyes.

"No offence buddy, but you're screwed." Condolences were given, and Naruto just shrugged. They were right, how the hell was he going to pull this off. He'd need a miracle.

"What the hell is going on out here? And why the hell is there a bucket of live crabs in the kitchen?" The red headed Gaara stepped out, his already intense jade eyes glaring at his inept blonde business partner. He was nursing his left thumb and Naruto guessed that one of the little crustaceans had gotten a pretty good hold of his best friend.

"I thought we'd start a new seafood menu." Naruto shrugged, he knew Gaara wasn't going to like it. The boy feared change, ok not really, only when it meant Naruto had something new to screw up and possibly cause third degree burns with.

"As opposed to the other menu you've mastered?" The sarcasm was unmistakable even for Gaara's monotone.

"Gaara you've got to help me." Naruto jumped up and pleaded with his unfortunate co-chef. Gaara was an ok cook, he was the only reason they hadn't ever killed a customer, but he had no schooling and his finest dishes usually involved grilled cheese.

"What did you do now?" The redhead could be damn scary when he wanted to be. Naruto cowered as he made his way on his knees over to hug Gaara's apron.

"Please, oh wonderful master Gaara. I've screwed up and I need you to make it all better." Naruto pleaded while he was slowly pried off of his partner.

"What did you do?" Those coal laced green eyes were now glaring at the blonde. Naruto just whimpered.

"It seems he's promised a gourmet meal to someone, or at least that's what we gathered, and he's rather determined not to disappoint." Shikamaru, who'd had quite enough of the blonde's loud begging, commented with his head back down on the counter.

"Not just anybody!" Naruto shouted. "This big rich jerk who insulted me even though I had apologized for lightly bumping into him and even offered him a free meal. He was all tall, and cool, and had a really nice jacket, and he was a complete ass. Oh, I just want to…" Naruto twisted his fists around handfuls Gaara's apron like it was someone's handsome pale throat.

"Ehem…stop that." Gaara batted the blonde's hands away. Naruto sank in defeat to the floor in front of the glowering boy. The redheaded chef looked at his best friend with pity. Naaruto had always been there for him even when he knew he had seemed impossible to reach. Naruto had never given up on him. Damn, he was in for a hellish afternoon.

"Alright, first things first, Akamaru has to go outside." Both Kiba and his dog suddenly whipped their heads up with a small pathetic whimper.

"No, I'm sorry but if we're going to be a real restaurant for an afternoon we can't have dirty animals running around." His eyes slowly made their way to the cowering form of Naruto. "Unless they work here." Gaara's tone left no room for questions and Kiba sniffed a little before turning to leave.

"Crap, you baby. Fine, just put him upstairs in Naruto's room until these people leave. We only have to be a legal establishment for a couple hours." Kiba's grin was instantly back in place and he ran off with his dog up to Naruto's apartment. They all knew where it was since they had known the boy for so long, most of them had known him since he took over the place because their parents had been regulars at the restaurant when Naruto's father ran it.

"Everyone else, start cleaning."

Across town Sasuke's car pulled into the front of a tall silver building just as a young pink haired woman came strolling out. She had short hair and a smart suit on. Her heels were noticeable but not eye-catching. She looked like every other young businesswoman on the streets and Sasuke found her utterly forgettable. Unfortunately, she seemed to be rather obsessed with him. He didn't understand why though, they barely spoke and they certainly didn't get along. Kakashi let the woman into the backseat next to Sasuke but the young man didn't even bother to look up. Sakura didn't seem to care, she just pulled out her compact and applied a little more lipstick before tapping on the back of Kakashi's seat. Something the gray-haired man found incredibly aggravating.

"Driver will you please hurry and get us to the restaurant, I don't have that much time before I have to get back to the office." She smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes, then sat back and started fiddling with her cell phone. Sasuke was confused, how did Sakura know about the restaurant? As if sensing his confusion Kakashi grinned in his rearview mirror at his charge.

"I hope you don't mind but I went ahead and left a message with Sakura's secretary that you wanted to meet her for lunch." Sasuke just made a little 'hn' noise in the back of his throat and continued to look out the window. Kakashi was hiding something, he could tell by the man's covered grin, and that was never a good thing. Ten minutes of driving and the car parked in an alley between two rather torn down looking buildings. Where the hell were they? Sakura continued to debate with someone on her phone before she stepped out of the car and actually looked at her surroundings.

"Where are we?" She said, echoing Sasuke's thoughts a little too loudly. "Driver this is not where we're supposed to be turn around and go back." She instructed and simply hung up on whoever was on the other line. Kakashi looked strangely at her and Sasuke simply watched as it all unfolded. It could get bad, but it could also get very entertaining.

"Oh I'm sorry Sakura we must've had a miscommunication somewhere because this is exactly where I meant." Kakashi smiled behind his turtleneck and it was more mischievous than Sasuke had seen for a while from the gray-haired man.

"What do you mean? I've been to La Petite Mort a dozen times and this is not it." She demanded. Kakashi just shrugged at the infuriated pink haired girl.

"Ah well yes but we're not going there. We're going to Le Petit Ciel." Sakura's eyes narrowed and promised swift pain if she didn't get what she wanted.

"I'm sorry but I can't be seen in some backwater restaurant in the hills. All the most important people eat at La Petite Mort, and that's where we'll be going." Her smile was so forced that it was giving her wrinkles and made her look ten years older. Sasuke watched on in mild amusement.

"Well ok, but you'll probably be late getting back to the office." Kakashi started opening her car door to let the crazed woman in. Something in Sakura's face snapped and she finally came to her last resort.

"Sasuke, where would you like to eat honey?" Her eye twitched maliciously at him. Sasuke just shrugged and turned away to cross the street. He started to wonder which building was the one he was supposed to be going into when a coughing blonde boy started running out of one, a very familiar blonde boy. The young man was in such a coughing fit, and in such a hurry to get out of the building, that he tripped on a large crack in the cement pavement.

'Oh no, not again.' The blonde thought as he began to fall face forward. That crack and he had been enemies for quite some time, it seemed to love to mock him when he was late for something and had to rush out of the building. But his face never got the chance to acquaint itself with the street, instead he felt a very strong hand pressing into his chest and an arm wrap around his waist. Slowly, cautiously, he raised his head.

"Are you this much of a klutz all the time or is it just coincidence?" Blue eyes were suddenly looking up at him and to Sasuke's total shock they were even more beautiful this time. How was that possible? Beauty only faded over time, it never grew. Did it?

"We have to stop meeting like this." The blonde commented and chuckled with embarrassment. He had changed into jeans and a white T-shirt that were covered by a long white apron, but he still had dust or flour or something all over him. Behind him a young man with long brown spiky hair came running out.

"Hey, sorry about that. I didn't realize that was flammable. Good thing Gaara's quick on his feet…" He was cut off by Naruto's look of warning, plus he couldn't get over the fact that the young blonde was literally hanging in some strange man's arms. As if just realizing their position, Naruto and Sasuke pulled away from each other at the same time. And much to Sasuke's relief, or disappointment it was hard to tell sometimes, Sakura and Kakashi came around the street corner _after_ they had separated. The dark haired boy frowned, sometimes he was sure his guardian knew more than was humanly possible. Had anyone ever heard of a psychic chauffer?

"Why hello again. How is the little chef today?" Kakashi winked and patted him on the back. Naruto, for reasons he couldn't explain, suddenly got the strangest urge to just run for his life.

"The name's Naruto and I'm fine. How are you?" Kakashi just kept on grinning mischievously. Sasuke frowned, or well, frowned a little more.

"Hello, my name is Haruno Sakura. I'm Sasuke's girlfriend and soon to be fiancé." She stuck out her manicured hand with pink nail polish and Naruto shook it. She didn't mean to sound jealous, but she really didn't like how close this boy was standing next to her Sasuke. True they had never actually consummated the relationship, hell they had never kissed, but she didn't care because Sasuke was rich, and gorgeous, and an extremely good career move. Naruto simply wondered if there was some kind of chemical in expensive clothing that made rich people act so friggin weird.

"Well shall we?" Kakashi asked politely getting a grunt from Sasuke that he assumed meant. 'Why yes, I'm starving and would really like a nice meal from the cute blonde chef.' Now Sasuke would never put it in those terms but, curiously enough, that was close to what was going through his brain.

"Uh, sure." Naruto eyed the restaurant wearily, he hoped that fire in the kitchen was completely out by now.

Naruto lead the way and the rest of the group followed him into the little French diner. Sasuke was surprised to say the least. It wasn't falling down at all. The place was actually quite well decorated and had a very warm and welcoming atmosphere. The glass counter to his right displayed an astonishing assortment of exotic chocolates and pastries. The décor was a rustic-antique French type of thing, even though none of the plates or silverware matched. It sort of added to its charm. Sakura, on the other hand, found the place stuffy and full of useless knick-knacks. Not a place she wanted to spend her afternoon break in when she could be showing off Sasuke to all the other businesswomen eating in La Petit Mort. Kakashi was far too distracted by what had just walked through the door to pay any sort of attention to the place's decor.

"Naruto! That fondant icing you ordered finally came, we better get into the fridge." Iruka shouted, wondering what was going on and why everything was so clean in there today. Then he spotted the silver haired man that was ogling him, and to his left was a severe looking young man and a girl with a slightly grossed out expression on her face. She was looking at Shikamaru who had fallen asleep and was drooling on the counter. Naruto pulled out the seats at one of the tables for his guests to sit at before rushing over to his guardian to relieve him of the rather large box he was carrying.

"Thanks Iruka, I'll have Gaara help me. Are you sticking around today?" Naruto asked as he pushed the box through the door that lead to the kitchen then immediately reappeared. His three guests had taken their seats and were looking at the menus. Naruto eyed them nervously.

"Yeah, I can stay for a little." Iruka followed the boy over to the table where he set down a glass of water for each person and a bottle of white wine. Iruka smiled and got glasses down for the blonde. Naruto frowned, he wasn't that short anymore but Iruka still had the tendency to try to grab things on higher shelves for him. He was quite the late bloomer and had been extremely short for most of his youth. He was glad Iruka was staying though, he didn't feel quite as nervous now that he had his guardian at his side. At least it no longer felt like he was facing this horrible mess alone.

At the table Kakashi happily poured himself a glass of wine and offered the bottle to Sasuke who just shrugged so the driver poured him a glass assuming that's what he wanted. He offered it to Sakura who crinkled her nose in distaste and snapped her fingers at Naruto telling him she would have a strawberry mango ice-tea with extra ice and two slices of lemon. Naruto just nodded and got her the drink. While the three looked through the menu Naruto and Iruka snuck off to gossip behind the chocolate counter.

"So who are they?" Iruka asked though it didn't escape Naruto's attention that his eyes lingered on the tall silver-haired driver.

"I ran into the evil looking kid with black hair this morning at the market and he insulted me. So naturally I invited him here for a meal." Naruto almost chuckled at the look on Iruka's face.

"I invited him here to prove that he was wrong and that I am indeed a great chef." Naruto smirked bitterly.

"But Naruto, you can't cook." Iruka said in a slightly amused tone that made the blonde's eyes roll.

"Yeah well, that's where it all falls apart." Naruto said with a childish pout and Iruka chuckled.

"Don't worry you'll figure something out." Naruto shrugged, Iruka was trying to comfort him unfortunately it was pretty obvious that he was screwed. He wandered back over to the table to take everyone's order.

"I'll have the chicken kiev." Sakura immediately ordered. Naruto had to admit the woman was bossy and really getting on his nerves. His heart rate started to go up when he thought about trying to actually cook what she had just ordered.

"And I'll have the beef Paillard." Kakashi smiled at him and then darted a glance to Iruka who was now sucking on a white-chocolate covered strawberry. 'Oh my.'

"If you'll excuse me for a moment." Kakashi slipped off into the bathroom before his nose bled all over the table linens. Iruka secretly eyed his escape out of the corner of his eye.

Naruto turned to Sasuke, his heart was now pounding out of his chest. God the asshole was gorgeous. Why couldn't he just order a grilled cheese sandwich…

"Why did you buy those crabs if you don't have anything with them on the menu?" Sasuke asked, though it didn't really sound like a question just something else for Sasuke to point out that was wrong. Naruto had to calm his stomach down a bit before he could find his voice. He was so nervous, how the hell was he going to pull this off?

"It's for a new crab dish I'm working on. For our new seafood menu." Naruto was proud of himself, he sounded a lot more confident than he felt.

"Then I'll have that."

"What?"

"Your new crab dish." Sasuke eyed him like he was an idiot. Which he supposed he was playing the part of right now, but how was he to explain that he had just made it all up and there wasn't any crab dish, so essentially Sasuke had just ordered nothing.

"Very well." …That probably wasn't it.

In the kitchen everything started to really fall apart, he had found the recipes for the first two orders in his fathers cookbook, which he had inherited with the restaurant, but Sasuke had ordered something that was nowhere to be found. His father had never made a crab dish apparently and he couldn't find anything in the cookbook to help him. Gaara was trying his best to get started on the other two meals while Naruto lamented on how he was supposed to invent some fabulous dish for the jackass, but all he had managed to do so far was find a lot of random ingredients that didn't go together. They were screwed, Gaara didn't even know half of the cooking terms used in the handmade cookbook so how was he supposed to cook these things.

Even worse, while in the kitchen they could distinctly hear everything that the pink-haired girl was saying about the restaurant and none of it was pleasant. Naruto was slowly hating her more and more with every insult made from the choice of linens to the unusual patrons who were all huddled in a booth in the corner. He couldn't stand this woman, how could she sit there and insult everything his father had worked so hard to create when she didn't know anything about the place. And now she was making fun of his friends because they weren't dressed in expensive clothes. They were the nicest and most loyal group of people he had ever met and she was tearing them apart based on appearance alone. God, he just wanted her to leave he couldn't think with that woman acting like that. Why the Hell was Sasuke with her?

"Naruto?" Came the gruff call from his co-chef, but the blonde was lost in deep thought.

"Naruto!"

"What!" The blonde whipped around and stared at his redheaded partner who was looking at him like he was nuts and holding a piece of raw chicken.

"I know you're stressed, but someone has to cook this shit and I don't even know where to begin." Gaara glared at his blonde friend who threw himself off his chair and marched over to Gaara. Grabbing the chicken from his hands he started to beat it mercilessly with a small wooden hammer. Gaara was a little surprised, not because Naruto was using random violence to solve his problems he usually did, but because when he read the cookbook that was exactly what Naruto was supposed to be doing.

"I can't believe Sasuke's with that girl. I mean, yeah, she's kind of pretty but she's so flippin rude. What gives her the right to waltz in here and act like she owns the place then tear it apart like it's not good enough for her. Like she just automatically deserves so much better because she has money. The only thing that girl deserves is a good kick in the pants." Naruto ranted while Gaara simply stood back and watched the boy unwittingly cook the entire chicken meal and then grab up a beef hunk and start smothering it in spices.

"They're all so weird, even that driver. I saw the way he was looking at Iruka and if he thinks for one second that I didn't then he is sorely mistaken." Naruto's face suddenly seemed to relax a bit. "Actually Iruka seemed interested in him too, and it has been a while since he's been able to date since he had to drop everything in his life to take care of me."

"He wanted to take care of you. He didn't stop his life for you he changed it and you know he loves you and would never take that decision back." Gaara spoke from his corner and Naruto nodded smiling.

But I suppose he deserves to finally have some real fun that doesn't involve one of my schemes for once. And they would be pretty cute together." Naruto mumbled as he popped the beef dish he had started working on into the oven. Then he grabbed one of the crabs from what he thought was the full bucket, but what he hadn't noticed was that the rusted old thing was one crab short. The same wily crab that had tried to escape at the market-stand had escaped once again. He had found a cozy little spot squeezed in between the top of the cupboards and the ceiling of the kitchen. The crab had no idea how he had climbed up there but he was very proud of himself for finding such a clever hiding spot all the same.

He watched as the young man who had purchased him ran in and out of the kitchen looking more and more nervous as time went on. He watched as the redheaded one wandered around and gathered things up, shaking his head every few minutes. The desperation in the kitchen that day was palpable. He decided that he liked the little blonde boy, he seemed nice if not a bit of a spazz, so he simply cast a little magic on him. It wasn't much because the crab didn't have much, only what the old man had enchanted him with, but it was enough to give the boy his greatest wish. He was now a master-chef. The spell would wear off with time, it was true, but it wouldn't matter. The talent was already in the boy it simply had to be unlocked. The blonde's overactive emotions got in the way of clear thinking which was needed for great cooking so the crab merely used his magic to ensure that the boy could cook even when his emotions were high. He had no idea what that meant but he was sure it would all turn out fine. After all, it's magic.

The blonde chef put the crab in the freezer then in the boiling pot to ensure the thing wasn't alive when it hit the water. He hated it when other chefs just threw the things in there like it didn't matter. He thought about what the hell he had gotten himself into and how the hell he was going to cook a meal for Sasuke. Sasuke, who was easily the most gorgeous being he had ever seen in his life. Sasuke, who was also the biggest ass he had ever met. But there was something about the dark haired man that drew Naruto in. He couldn't put his finger on it but there was something in his gaze that he found startlingly familiar. He was lonely, for all the mystery and inherent sex god-ness, the man was just as lonely as Naruto. Something told him that they had suffered alike, had grown through hardships alike, and had found themselves stronger but infinitely more alone. Naruto thought about the man more and more, he couldn't get his mind off of him until finally he looked down and saw three gourmet meals on the counter in front of him, including a flakey crab-cake like dish that looked perfect for the delicate pale man who had ordered it.

"When the hell did this happen?" Naruto asked staring at the three meals with shock, but he couldn't say he was upset in the least with the mysterious appearance of the good food.

"You did it, idiot. I watched you cook all those meals like some kind of pro. It was a miracle, or some weird deal with the devil, either way I think you should serve your guests now." And so Naruto did.

And hell itself was unleashed in the restaurant that day.

* * *

Thank you to everyone who read this and much thanks to all who read and/or reviewed the last chapter. You all are the best and for it you shall receive toast, because toast is the greatest! 


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